‘Witnessing greatness’: How Gonzaga’s Yvonne Ejim became program’s all-time leading scorer

Lisa Fortier has said many insightful things the past five years about Yvonne Ejim.

The Gonzaga women’s basketball coach was succinct and appropriate in a statement she shared about the player who at the time was 15 points away from becoming the all-time leading scorer in school history.

“This year, we’re witnessing greatness,” Fortier said.

If you want to see what a runaway winner for West Coast Conference Player of the Year looks like, look no further than Ejim, the reigning player of the year. For that matter, she should repeat as the defensive player of the year.

Ejim makes basketball look easy. What makes how she plays all the more respectable is the fact that she works harder in practice than most would understand.

She doesn’t loaf. She doesn’t take plays off. She goes at one speed – all out.

The Calgary, Alberta, native broke the all-time scoring record on Feb. 6 at Saint Mary’s. It’s the most substantial record left on a long list of feats. 

Here’s a look back at how Ejim got there, in a run-up to breaking the record.

Career for the ages

Fifteen years ago Saturday, Heather Bowman took ownership of GU’s all-time scoring record. She finished with 2,165 points in four seasons.

Some might argue that Gonzaga should keep two all-time scoring records: one for Bowman and what she did in four years and one for Ejim, who has benefited from a fifth season since she played during the COVID years.

Consider, though, that Ejim scored just 93 points her freshman year, playing in 25 games. She played in 34 games her sophomore season, starting one. That one start turned out to be her coming-out party .

Ejim has started 99 out of 100 games the past three seasons, missing a game when she was away last year playing for the Canadian national team.

The numbers she’s put up the past three seasons have been nothing short of staggering. During the best season Gonzaga has had a year ago, the Zags were 32-4, advancing to the Sweet 16. Ejim was surrounded by four graduate starters, averaging 19.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.

Defenses have focused more on Ejim this season, but to no avail. She’s averaging 21.4 points and 8.8 rebounds.

Last week, she became the first player in West Coast Conference history to score more than 2,000 career points and have more than 1,000 career rebounds. She is one of five active players in the nation to reach those milestones.

Ejim would have liked nothing less than to break the scoring record at McCarthey Athletic Center. The 6-foot-1 forward has scored in double figures in 65 consecutive games. She has scored less than 15 points just four times this season. She’s likely to reach the milestone early in the third quarter Thursday.

“I thought about that,” Ejim said. “I’d like to be home, but again, we just got to play basketball. It would be cool to do it in the Kennel, but I just want to go do it for Gonzaga. I do care, but I don’t really care.”

She’ll be glad to get back to just playing and not pursuing records after Thursday. She hasn’t said it out loud, but chasing the all-time scoring mark likely has been a burden at times. But like everything she does, she does it with grace and humility.

There’s one unofficial record Ejim could reach. Gonzaga’s all-time scoring record – male or female – belongs to Drew Timme (2,307). She’s 156 points away. With at least nine more games left, she needs to average 17.3 points.

“It’s great to see where I’ve come since my freshman year to now,” Ejim said. “A lot of it comes from the people I’ve played with and for.

“My coaches have definitely poured a lot of effort into me and my game. I wouldn’t be able to be on any of these (records) lists without them. And my teammates, we do play a team sport.

“It’s crazy to think of all the years I was able to play with Melody Kempton or Ana (Anamaria Virjoghe) or the Truongs or Brynna (Maxwell) and Eliza (Hollingsworth) throughout my five years, all the work they’ve put into me, they put into themselves, this team, and this program has gotten me here. It’s super special that they’ve been part of my journey and to have all of that accumulate to where I am on some of these lists.”

“I know she just doesn’t really care (about the records),” Fortier said. “She just wants our team to do well. And that’s the kind of thing that really makes her special.”

Fortier said Ejim can have as long a professional career as she wants.

“She’s a high-level draft pick and she’s going to have a long career and then she’s going to fix us all as a doctor,” Fortier said. “She’s a pretty remarkable person.”

Opposing coaches and players rave about Ejim. In a game in December against Eastern Washington, she had 28 points in 21 minutes.

“We did everything we could to try to slow her down,” EWU coach Joddie Gleason said. “She’s an elite player, one of the best in the nation.”

Washington State coach Kamie Ethridge respects how tenacious Ejim plays inside – as a shooter and a rebounder.

“She doesn’t have to make a move,” Ethridge said. “She can just turn and shoot. She gets a ton of those and they’re great at giving her the ball.”

Fellow Canadian and Washington State’s lone senior, Tara Wallack, draws the defensive assignment against Ejim. It’s a difficult matchup.

“It’s her (last) year and she’s playing like every game is her last game,” Wallack said.

Ejim wants to continue playing for as long as she can. She has her premed degree and is finishing a minor in psychology. She plans to be a doctor at some point.

She’s projected to be a first-round selection in the WNBA draft in April.

“From what I’ve heard from past teammates and others in the (WNBA) is that it’s not an easy road to bear,” Ejim said. “It takes a lot of work to get on a team and stay on a team. I honestly just hope I get an opportunity and I’ll work my hardest to capitalize on it.”

A big fan

Bowman, who lives in Spokane, attends most Gonzaga home games. She’s watched Ejim’s game blossom.

A 6-1 forward from Lewis and Clark High, Bowman sees similarities between herself and Ejim.

“I do see a few,” Bowman said. “When I came in, I focused on a midrange game. She’s not only gotten out to the midrange, she’s more comfortable out on the 3-point (line). She works really hard and is physical. A lot of the things you tend to like in other players are things you liked about your game.”

Going back to former head coach Kelly Graves, for whom Bowman played, the Zags usually recruit athletic forwards who play facing the basket more than with a back to the basket.

“It allows the team to get out and go up and down the floor. I love that system,” Bowman said.

Ejim often is the first Zag down the court in transition.

“There’s not a better player to do it,” Bowman said. “Even when she was a freshman, I liked her, I wanted her to play more. On top of that, the impact that she’s had off the court and the progress she’s made in the program … she’s an incredible person to take (the record) over. I had it for 15 years, I’ll keep it on my resume. I’m excited for her.”

How it started

Ejim was biding her time as a sophomore, averaging 20.7 minutes off the bench and 10.1 points and 5.6 rebounds when opportunity presented itself in a critical situation.

Three starters came down with the stomach flu the night before the West Coast Conference Tournament championship game late her sophomore year. Fortier turned to little-used Ejim to fill a starting job in the tournament final.

All Ejim did was score a career-high and team-leading 13 points and grab nine rebounds. She had eight points as the Zags dug out of a hole in the fourth quarter to top BYU 43-42.

Ejim got a key rebound with a second remaining that set up the winning shot by Jill Townsend.

“She carried us,” Fortier said.

Gonzaga fans knew what they had, and the past three years have confirmed as much.

Per usual, Ejim deflects praise. Even when she thinks back to that start, her sophomore season, she is humble.

“We needed people on the floor so they had no choice but to play me,” Ejim said.

Fortier loves how Ejim’s journey played out. She’s proven to be a unicorn.

“What I love about her is she’s done it the way we envisioned it, which is not how it happens very often anymore,” Fortier said. “People don’t come in and do their role as a freshman and expand their role as sophomores. People aren’t willing to do that and put in the time like that anymore.”

Ejim was named the WCC’s Sixth Woman of the Year following that season.

Challenging season

Ejim knew there would be some challenges this season. The Zags had to replace four veteran starters.

Still, with eight games left in the regular season, Gonzaga is in a familiar spot atop the WCC at 9-2 and 15-8 overall. The Zags are riding a nine-game winning streak.

“It’s definitely been super fun,” Ejim said. “It’s had its challenges, but that’s part of the process. Nothing ever goes smoothly even when you do have all your returners coming back.

“It’s been very fun and very rewarding to be in this position, especially with the teammates I’m doing it with who are helping me along the way and carving out that way as well.”

Ejim believes the best is yet to come for the Zags.

“I want to see our competitiveness go up,” she said. “There’s a lot of stuff that we’ve been executing well we just need to keep it more consistent … just want to see our energy and our competitiveness continue to rise to the occasion.”

Ejim’s versatility has been stretched this season. She’s the emergency point guard. Several times, she’s asked to break full-court pressure.

Fortier will never run out of things to say about her star. Ejim means so much to her and her husband, Craig, an assistant coach, that the Fortiers traveled to Paris last summer to watch Ejim in the Olympics.

Fortier did it in the middle of her battle with cancer.

“There are just so many moments that I’m proud of, including the stuff off the court,” Fortier said. “Everybody knows I’m a big fan of hers. I’m just so happy for her.”

Down the road

There will be life beyond basketball for Ejim, and there’s no doubt she’ll perform at an elite level in what comes her way.

She’ll likely play through 2028, the next Olympics. The evidence of that goal is seen on her right tricep where she has a tattoo of the Olympic rings.

Med school awaits. She’ll likely finish her education in Canada.

Only one way to end it

One former Gonzaga women’s player has a jersey retired and hanging in McCarthey Athletic Center.

Ejim was in McCarthey two years ago when Courtney Vandersloot was honored and her No. 21 placed in the rafters.

Ejim’s No. 15 is bound for a spot next to 21, to be sure.

“That would be literally crazy to have my number hanging in McCarthey,” Ejim said. “(Domantas) Sabonis just got his jersey hung this season and Courtney got her jersey hung. Being part of that legacy, in this school, in this program, in this gym, in the Kennel, and have my name up there, it would truly mean a lot to me. This school means a lot to me. My teams have meant a lot to me.”